Channel View Students Become Urban Farmers

During the week of March 24, 25 Channel View School for Research (CVSR) sixth graders lived and worked on a dairy farm in Reading, Vermont. The program is sponsored by Farms for City Kids, a non-profit organization founded by Karli and Jim Hagedorn.

The goal of the program is for students to get a hands on experience where academics are integrated into daily farm activities. The daily chores included milking cows, cleaning stalls, grooming horses, and feeding pigs and chickens. They helped the farm staff tap and collect sap from several hundred trees and learned how maple syrup is made.

Students filmed a documentary on their experience at the farm, which was submitted to a film competition funded by NBC.

The students were chaperoned by CVSR's literary coach, Kerri Walsh, and sixth grade teacher Barbara Mannion. Principal Patricia J. Tubridy, who was instrumental in involving CVSR with the organization said, "I'm happy that our children had the opportunity to experience farm life in an enjoyable and educational setting."